Local bands, KISS FM to raise money for International Boxing Club

Three local bands will perform during a benefit concert called the Spotlight Artist Showcase to raise money for the International Boxing Club (IBC) in Oregon, at 6 p.m. June 14.

The showcase, co-hosted by 92.5 KISS FM and IBC, will feature Harbours, The Eight Fifteens and The Last Born Sons.

“This will be our first live show together as a band and we’re very excited to launch with this project,” said Matt Beier, guitarist for Harbours. “I know the other bands who are participating, too, and they are fantastic. It’s just a nice opportunity for us to get out and showcase what we’ve done creatively.”

KISS FM’s morning show, The Morning Rush, has hosted dozens of local music artists, bands and DJs on Fridays for more than a year. However, the Spotlight Artist Showcase will be its first concert.

“It’s usually one quick song and an interview on Friday. This is a full-blown show with three live sets and all the proceeds — except for sound equipment expenses — go straight to the boxing club,” said Jodi Szczublewski, promotions director at Clear Channel Media and Entertainment.

IBC is a Toledo-based organization that engages disadvantaged 8- to 20-year-olds in their studies by using amateur boxing and boxercise “as a hook to get kids into the building and off the streets,” according to its website. Since its founding in 1998, IBC has helped more than 4,000 at-risk youth.

“We’re trying to develop champions in life,” said Harry Cummins III, IBC’s founder and executive director. “These kids have a future in our community and we can’t turn our backs on them. They don’t have anywhere to go. As adults, we need to support them and send the message that they can get out of their neighborhoods and current lifestyle. It’s key just to show that we do care as a community.”

Cummins said that IBC’s program costs about $165,000 annually and helps an average of 160 local youth every year. The program does not cost anything for participants, but requires them to meet IBC’s academic standards.

“Got to keep the grades up to put the boxing gloves on,” Cummins said. “Watching them grow up and graduate makes you so proud. I’m blessed to have these kids.”

In addition to academic services, such as a free tutoring program with University of Toledo’s Honors college, IBC provides vocational training and community service opportunities for its participants.

“Our drummer actually trains at the International Boxing Club so this is very exciting for us as a band,” said Josh Whitney, guitarist for The Eight Fifteens. “We love to do charity events. It’s our pleasure to help other people by giving back and if we can provide entertainment, too, then it’s a double whammy.”

DJ 3PM, aka local artist Casey Clark, will open Saturday’s show at 6 p.m. The bands kick off at 7 p.m. and each will play for about 45 minutes, with DJ 3PM spinning tunes between each set.

Szczublewski said she hopes to see a crowd of about 300 people and would consider making this an annual event to raise money for IBC.

Alcohol, food and band merchandise will be available for purchase at the concert, which is open to all those 21 and older. Tickets cost $15 at the door and $10 in advance at 925kissfm.com/showcase.

“We’re all stoked about it,” said Kyle Smithers, bassist for The Last Born Sons. “It’s cool just because we’re playing with guys we’ve known in town. It’s just fun to do showcases like this where we can all work together for the Toledo music scene and make a contribution for charity, too.”

Pounds: In Focus

May 21 will bring the annual FOCUS Spring Luncheon, an event Toledo Free Press is proud to support and participate in. FOCUS (Family Outreach Community United Services), as explained on its website, is a “community based agency called to embrace people in need, bring voice to the voiceless, and restore hope and dignity to the forgotten. FOCUS fosters the skills that enable people to gain control of their lives and their futures by providing the necessary steps to emerge from homelessness and poverty, and gain economic and social stability.”

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FOCUS is an organization we believe in — Toledo Free Press Editor in Chief Michael S. Miller is hosting the luncheon for a second year — because its people make such a big difference in our community. We support many programs that work with homeless men, women and families—most of them deal with the real-time needs of food, clothing, and making sure each person has a bed to sleep in.

What’s unique about FOCUS is that it takes the next step — it takes each household referred to them and finds them what they want most — a home. FOCUS then pays the rent for the family while FOCUS case managers work on the key problems that put these folks on the street in the first place — they teach their participants how to be good tenants, they help them find and maintain a job, keep a budget and make sure that their kids are succeeding in school.

We also look forward to welcoming Jim Karasek, FOCUS’ new executive director, who takes the reins from the irreplaceable Kyle Grefe.

FOCUS has a goal of ending homelessness in our community. They are passionate, caring and persistent in helping people stabilize their lives. And even more remarkably, they do this for $19 per person per day. Almost 94 percent of FOCUS families remain stably housed six months after FOCUS support ends. We believe, for that alone, FOCUS deserves your generous support. For more information on the Spring Luncheon, contact Janet Fehlen at jfehlen@bex.net or call (419) 304-0613.

Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press. Contact him at tpounds@toledofreepress.com.

Murals, public art used to revitalize neighborhoods

Vacant lots strewn with trash, abandoned buildings littering the city, boarded-up windows — it’s no secret that neighborhood blight is a problem in Toledo. “Revitalizing neighborhoods” even became a campaign issue in the November election.

From left, Toledo City Council member Lindsay Webb, artist Ahmad Jacobs and Rachel Richardson of Art Corner Toledo with a mural at Junction and Belmont streets in Toledo. Toledo Free Press Photo by Andrew Weber

One such abandoned building sits at the corner of 18th Street and Madison Avenue in the UpTown neighborhood. The Arts Commission, Art Corner Toledo (ACT), Home Depot, the UpTown Green planning committee and volunteers from United Way of Greater Toledo are all working together to place murals over its boarded-up windows.

The artwork is expected to do for UpTown what murals have done for other parts of the city. Murals have revived dilapidated landscapes, increased a sense of ownership and transformed a neighborhood plagued by vandalism and prostitution to one that kindles respect and pride. Murals have revitalized Toledo’s neighborhoods, supporters say, and more are planned.

“[Murals] have a huge, huge impact on the way people interact with the city and engage with the city,” said Ryan Bunch of the Arts Commission. “They’re more aesthetically appealing … they create meaning. … Some of Downtown is a little rough-looking at times and it creates this feeling that ‘I’m not alone here — there’s some life and activity here.’”

“Murals and public art have been proven to create destinations for people to visit, take photos and simply be in a positive, creative space and place,” said Rachel Richardson of ACT. “They also attract developers and activate parts of blighted neighborhoods that need some extra help due to decades of decay.”

“Neighborhood revitalization and economic development follow in the wake of public art.”

The murals at 18th Street and Madison Avenue will be painted on panels that can be moved to preserve the art for the future. The Arts Commission is accepting artist submissions with a design concept of “activism and community.” When finished, the murals will be 8.5 feet high and 14 feet wide with contributions from more than 10 artists.

“We are excited about it,” said Julie Champa, executive director of the UpTown Association. “And it will certainly add to the overall feel of the neighborhood in general.”

The mural will be adjacent to a park, called UpTown Green, that is currently under construction. Both the mural and the park are expected to enhance the neighborhood and entice potential developers.

Toledo City Council plans to vote on a measure to spend $15,000 on murals for the city. The money will match $15,000 offered by Lucas County and will go to ACT, said City Council member Lindsay Webb. The measure was on the agenda April 22 but was held for a vote, Webb said.

“Murals are a great way to capture the heart of a neighborhood and express it visually, Webb said. “It’s a part of developing and identifying and dealing with blight. My hope is that we can roll it out citywide and look at Summit Street or maybe on Secor Road and in East Toledo.”

Point Place is also another neighborhood that has expressed interest in getting a mural.

Maria Rodriguez-Winter of the sofia quintero art and cultural center with a mural in South Toledo. Toledo Free Press photo by Kim Sanchez

“Point Place would love to put up murals about boats and that aspect. I can’t do that if I don’t have the resources,” Webb said.

One percent of the city’s capital budget is designated to the Arts Commission, Webb said, but that money must be used on city-owned property. Council would like to get murals into neighborhoods to improve blight and increase economic development, she said.

Red Velvet Jazz Club

Artist Ahmad Jacobs said people in the Junction neighborhood had a sense there was a “movement” about to happen.

The business owners in the area and the residents were “all happy and full of excitement” to have him paint a mural on the side of the Red Velvet Jazz Club at Junction and Belmont avenues.

“It was really good feedback for me. I felt special,” Jacobs, 45, said. “It brought a lot of people out who didn’t want to come out.”

The building is under new ownership and in the process of opening, according to Jacobs.

Jacobs has painted a number of murals around the city, many of them as a volunteer. He attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and taught kindergarten through sixth grade before life got in the way and he said he lost his creative direction.

“I wanted to give up,” he said. “I ended up finding myself again and experiencing art. … I had to get humble. Once I started volunteering, it worked wonders. … My whole thing was to make the city my sketchbook. No one knew I was an artist. I started going around giving businesses a ‘hug.’”

Richardson enlisted Jacobs to paint the mural that he says altered the Junction neighborhood.

“The spirit of the neighborhood completely changed,” he said. “A lot of the businesses had hope when they saw it. And even the people, the winos, they had something positive to talk about. They saw people come into their neighborhood who didn’t live there (who) had passion and drive for their neighborhood. … They needed to step their game up and join in. … So many people I would never talk to came to talk to me and offer suggestion on what they wanted to see.”

The Love Wall

The “Toledo Loves Love” mural at Adams and 13th streets has not only helped revitalize the UpTown area, it has also become a destination spot. Wedding parties, residents and people taking selfies use it as a backdrop.

Toledo Free Press Photo by Kim Sanchez

“It’s a great promoter of Toledo,” said Manos Paschalis, owner of Manos Greek Restaurant, 1701 Adams St., and the owner of the building sporting the “Toledo Loves Love” wall. “Yes, it brings people together and it brings energy to the area and it’s always positive.”

That positive energy can only enhance a neighborhood, Champa said.

“The ‘Toledo Loves Love’ has gotten a lot of attention. … So many people come to that and take pictures. It’s become synonymous with the district and we think that’s really cool.”

Paschalis said the mural is bringing in business; every year, more and more people who come out to see the mural are flocking to area businesses.

A new business is going in at the building the mural adorns. Toledoan Aggie Alt is opening Moxie Live, an art house and pub that will have art on display and offer theater, dance and “anything to do with art,” Alt said.

“I think the mural is such a perfect fit,” she said. “I think it’s going to help us identify with that area. Even people outside the city know it.

“The mural shows artists, ‘Yeah, you can have your work shown here and (the art world) isn’t dead,’ and I think the mural really promotes that.”

‘The Voyage’

In 2013, the United Way of Greater Toledo held its Days of Caring event. The organization set out to “transform a neighborhood, strengthen relationships.” And to do that, they went straight to the Junction neighborhood residents to find out what changes they wanted.

The neighborhood responded. During the event, more than 30 properties were landscaped and mulched, 13 houses painted, five schools beautified, three wheelchair ramps built, two home foundations repaired, two playgrounds improved, one church basement floor installed and two murals painted, plus much more.

Titled “The Voyage,” one of the murals looks like a big blue wave rolling across the side of a building and wrapping around its edges.

It’s painted on the old Munchies building at North Detroit Avenue and Dorr Street, whose sign reads “Munchies. Again. Shrimp. Fish. Chicken.” Behind it sits a Family Food Center and, next door, a dollar store.

Toledo Free Press Photo by Kim Sanchez

“The concept that we wanted to capture is that there is a voyage that needs to take place, for the past, present and future — so (the generations) know who they are and how they are connected to American history with a positive perspective,” said Alicia Smith, a resident and community organizer.

Smith sees the mural as not only a lesson in the voyage of life, but also a testament to relationships: Hundreds of volunteers, sponsors and residents worked together to make the mural and Days of Caring a reality.

“The most important thing is connection. There’s strength in connection; there’s power behind connection. … When you allow the community to have a voice you stop prescribing what you think they need and they start prescribing what they need,” Smith said.

United Way shifted to a grassroots way of interacting with the community about five years ago, said Emily Avery, director of community engagement at United Way of Greater Toledo. The organization listened to the residents at Days of Caring, acted and got great feedback, she said.

“We heard a lot from the neighborhood — it gave people hope again — just to see how much community support that they had,” Avery said. “It’s amazing what a little paint can do. We heard from people that it just kind of spread joy through the neighborhood.”

The Junction neighborhood is not done with its revitalization plan. They recently cleared sidewalks, organized a voter registration drive and will continue to landscape and paint. The journey is not over, Smith said.

“We’re going to continue to do murals. The voyage doesn’t stop,” she said. “The minute you dock the boat, you have to continue.”

Broadway Street

Gordon Ricketts was influenced by the Latino art of his San Diego childhood. As art professor and director of the Arts Village at Bowling Green State University, he wanted to bring the Latino art style to Toledo. To do so, he enlisted his friend Mario Torero.

Torero, an artist born in Peru, helped paint 60 colorful murals on the concrete support piers for the San Diego-Coronado Bridge and I-5, called Chicano Park in San Diego’s Barrio Logan neighborhood.

Ricketts brought Torero to Toledo about five years ago for the first of several murals, two on the underpass of I-75 on Broadway Street. Passersby can see the murals are large and Hispanic in style, much like the murals at Chicano Park.

“Broadway made sense because of the bridge,” Ricketts said. “We got permission from ODOT (Ohio Department of Transportation) and the mayor’s office and business leaders in the neighborhood. It was a pretty involved project.”

Students from BGSU and residents helped Torero paint the murals that stretch from the I-75 underpass to the Green Lantern at 509 Broadway St., Ricketts said.

Since the murals have graced the neighborhood, leaders said they no longer see the graffiti or prostitution they once did along Broadway Street. So far, none of the murals have been vandalized and a survey of the neighborhood showed that residents like the artwork and the gardens.

Maria Rodriguez-Winter, interim director of the Sofia Quintero Art and Cultural Center at 1225 Broadway St., said the murals have had a transformative effect on the neighborhood, which in the past was very depressing with boarded-up buildings and absentee landlords. The decline started about 20 years ago, said Rodriguez-Winter, who has been involved in the neighborhood for the past 40 years.

About 10 years ago, things started to change and now every day she sees a synergy at work in the neighborhood, she said. Residents now have a sense of pride and respect for the neighborhood. The murals are a big part of that.

“We love [the murals],” she said. “We feel that they really add a lot of beauty to the neighborhood and it engages people. When Mario comes and when Gordon comes into the area with the students, they are engaging the community.

“It’s just a process of having the people of the neighborhood be involved in the creative aspect of it. We’ve gotten so much positive feedback that some of the businesses want to have their walls painted.”

This year will be the fifth year Torero has come to Toledo to paint. The artist will be in the Old South End neighborhood June 17-18, Ricketts said.